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Welcome to R&D Market Pulse, a weekly report on the top spenders in research and development.
I’m R&D Magazine Editor Laura Panjwani
Volkswagen Unveils Platform for New Electric Car Line
Volkswagen has unveiled MEB, its modular electric-drive toolkit,” designed to be the basic building block of future anticipated Volkswagen electric vehicles.
Around the world, Volkswagen is making plans to produce 10 million copies of the MEB in a variety of styles, the most ambitious electric-vehicle rollout of any major automaker.
The MEB will form the basis of the production versions of the I.D. CROZZ SUV, the I.D. BUZZ van, which were previously released as concept cars.
Thanks to being designed from the start for electric propulsion, the MEB can easily adapt too many different sizes of vehicles and battery capacities while using common components to help lower costs.
The battery pack, located in the floor, can be easily redesigned for different sizes and types of batteries, allowing for driving ranges from about 200 miles up to more than 340 miles.
Innovators featured on the TV show “Shark Tank,” could now see their products sold on Amazon.
Shark Tank Products to be Sold on Amazon
Amazon announced the new Amazon Launchpad Shark Tank Collection, which highlights products seen on “Shark Tank,” including the Hatch Baby, Third Wave Water and Stasher, among others. This collaboration, which coincides with the premiere of “Shark Tank” season 10, provides an opportunity for successfully-funded Shark Tank startups and entrepreneurs to launch and showcase their products on Amazon.com.
More than 70 products that successfully received funding from Sharks during seasons 1-9 are now available for purchase on Amazon.com, with products from season 10 and beyond to be featured in the AmazonLaunchpad Shark Tank Collection in the future. All startups and entrepreneurs that Sharks have invested in will be considered for the Amazon Launchpad program. In addition, Amazon Web Services is offering a $15,000 credit for cloud computing services to each eligible “Shark Tank” entrepreneur.
Founded in 2015, Amazon Launchpad is a program that helps startups launch, market and distribute their products to hundreds of millions of Amazon customers around the globe.
Janssen Ulcerative Colitis Shows Promise
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson has released new phase III data for their drug STELARA which demonstrates that the drug induces clinical remission and response in adults with Moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis.
Patients who received STELARA also experienced improved healing, as well as improvement in health-related quality of life compared with patients receiving placebo.
The patients in the study had previously experienced an inadequate response or were intolerant to conventional or biologic therapies. The findings were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Scientific Meeting 2018.
STELARA is the first biologic approved for any indication that targets interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 cytokines, which are believed to play a role in immune-mediated diseases, like ulcerative colitis.
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R&D Magazine follows the top 25 spenders in R&D as part of its R&D Market Pulse Index.
To learn more about the R&D Market Pulse Index, view the full list of Top 25 companies, or read expert stock market insight from R&D Magazine contributing Editor Tim Studt, check out the Market Pulse page on rdmag.com.
I’m Laura Panjwani and thank you for watching R&D Market Pulse. Join us next week for more R&D business news.
